


Day One: Tree

by kiraisstillhere



Series: 25 Days of Foxmas (2018) [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, HAPPY HOLIDAYS Y'ALL, M/M, so psyched for this bc i've been writing it for a few months now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 10:40:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16809034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiraisstillhere/pseuds/kiraisstillhere
Summary: Getting a tree is customary for Christmas, a long-standing tradition in most families, one that Neil never got. So Andrew brainstorms ideas with Bee and decides that Neil is getting a tree this year.





	Day One: Tree

So Andrew wasn’t exactly a fan of the holidays. This had more to do with the fact that Neil had gone to the Ravens than anything else, because he felt that it was obvious that a shitty childhood would come with shitty childhood memories. He had expressed this opinion to Bee with blunt sincerity, and she had just nodded and asked if he wanted a candy cane to stir his hot chocolate with. He’d accepted the candy while he told her about how much he despised the holidays and gift giving and the adamance with which department stores pushed sales. He hated everything to do with the holidays and refused to participate.

So why was Andrew standing outside of the stadium, leaning against his car with Bee, smoking a cigarette and wrapped in a winter coat? Why was he texting Neil fervently, telling him to hurry his stupid ass up? Why did he have an extra jacket in the back seat? Why had he threatened Kevin to make Neil get off the court on time?

“Are you going to do anything with Neil?” Bee asked, her tongue swiping stray hot chocolate from the corner of her mouth. She reached forward and adjusted the little Santa figurine on her desk, aligning it with the reindeer and a moose baking cookies. “He might be interested.” 

Andrew felt his brow drop into a glower, thinking about his dumb boyfriend and how he had probably never had a happy Christmas, and how he had overheard Dan and Matt planning to pool their money to buy Neil an extra pair of shoes so that he could run in the woods if they ever went back to Allison’s cabin.

“He’s never had a real Christmas,” was all Andrew said to Bee.

Because Neil was a little asshole who had never celebrated anything and dammit, Andrew hated the holidays but at least he had them. Nicky bought him gifts, and he and Aaron bitterly posed by the tree that they got every year. Even Bee made him peppermint hot chocolate after Thanksgiving ended.

Neil had never had that, Andrew knew. He had been on the run for so long, and more importantly, he had never learned to not stress about his money. Blending in didn’t cost a lot, and Kevin had felt inclined to inform him that chapstick didn’t count as a present. The problem was that Neil didn’t know how to celebrate, and he didn’t want anything because he didn’t know how to want anything. He didn’t understand that he was allowed to enjoy things, and that people wanted to buy things for him.

“Allison asked me what she should buy Neil for Christmas, but I don’t know what he wants.”

“Neil doesn’t want a lot, hm?” Bee was just asking questions to ask them - obviously Neil didn’t want a lot. He was a dumb idiot and Andrew was wondering if Wymack would get mad if Neil showed up to practice in his first set of dirty clothes again. Probably.

Neil’s head emerged from the doors of the court, stopping for a moment when he saw Bee sitting on the hood of the car alongside Andrew. He jerked forward for a moment, and then began walking, and Andrew realized that Kevin had probably shoved Neil forward because he was blocking the doorway.

Andrew had threatened Kevin that he would kill him the next time he laid a hand on Neil, but he figured that he could extend his holiday spirit to Kevin too, if he had to. Even annoying strikers had to be shown some cheer every once in awhile.

“Maybe you do some Christmas stuff with Neil? Do you remember what Nicky did for you and Aaron? Or maybe Nicky can take Neil out?”

“No, I want to take Neil. I remember what Nicky did.”

He paused for a moment, thinking about Nicky bringing the tree home, decorating it while Christmas movies played on the television. He usually danced around the kitchen and would go through the cabinets looking for ingredients to bake cookies - he always left out the tray, even if Andrew and Aaron weren’t in on the Christmas spirit.

Andrew made Bee leave the hacksaw in the trunk of the car, saying that it was something to do with Neil being impulsive, but he was pretty sure that Bee knew it was because of Neil’s somewhat rocky past with blades. He watched Kevin herd Neil away from the stadium and to the parking lot.

“Andrew! And Bee?” Neil asked, jogging up to the car while Kevin rolled his eyes. 

“Get him home by midnight, Andrew.”

“Not likely, Kevin. Leave me and Neil alone.” Andrew flicked his cigarette on the ground and stubbed it out before opening the driver’s side door. “Bee gets front seat, Neil,” he said before slipping into the car.

Kevin rolled his eyes again and walked away toward Fox Tower, while Neil made way for the back seat. Bee looked like she wanted to offer her place in the passenger seat to him, but Neil didn’t like being studied, and therefore didn’t want to have her behind them, watching and taking in all their little quirks and interactions.

“Where are we going?” Neil asked, watching the road stretch ahead of them. They drove past Columbia, further into rural area than he wanted to be.

Andrew kept his eyes on the road as usual, but he was dying for another cigarette. If he didn’t have to worry about Bee, he would pull over and light one. She didn’t like when he smoked, and he had to respect that. 

“Go to sleep, Neil. I’ll wake you up when we get there.”

\--

An hour and two phone calls to Nicky later, Andrew pulled into the dirt lot outside of a “Saint Nick’s Christmas Tree Farm” and turned the engine off. He reached back and tugged on a chunk of Neil’s stupidly long hair, trying to wake him without too much trouble. Neil grimaced, but slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“Where are we, Andrew?” His hair flopped into his line of sight, his bandana still on the seat where his head had been.

“Fix your hair, Josten,” Andrew said bluntly, reaching for his cigarettes before deciding against it. Bee wouldn’t be appreciative of it, and this seemed like a family-friendly area. Instead, he crossed to the back of the car and popped the trunk to grab the saw.

The trio walked into the fences and were met by a jaunty college student with her braids tied up into two buns and elf ears clipped in. She bounded up to them with her hands in her green canvas apron and a huge smile across her face. 

“Hey! Welcome to the farm! We’ve got firs, spruces, and pines, it just depends on what you’re looking for and how big you want it to be.”

“We’ll go for the Douglas fir, thanks.” 

“Nicky always got us Douglas firs. I don’t know why. He says they’re the best one to get.”

Andrew had finished his hot chocolate, and staring at the slush of the candy cane that was left over. He could taste the film that the drink left in his mouth.

“Do you think that you can bring a real tree into the Fox Tower?” 

Andrew could practically see Bee thinking about all the needles across the floor.

“Why would I bring a tree into Fox Tower if Neil and I are spending the break at the house in Columbia?”

Bee nodded, taking her final drink of her hot chocolate. She’d always been slower at drinking hers than Andrew had been. She looked at the clock, and Andrew knew that it was time for their session to end.

“I’ll see you next week, Andrew. Thank you for talking to me about the holidays. I think you and Neil will have a lovely time.”

Andrew stood and made his way to the door, pushing open part way, before turning back to.

“Bee?”

She stopped putting her notebooks away and looked at Andrew. “Yes?”

“Can you come get a tree with us?”

The girl pointed them in the direction of the Douglas firs and turned her attention to the next group of people who had entered the farm’s gates. Andrew walked forward without question, and Neil and Bee followed. It took them ten minutes to reach the section with the trees, whereupon Bee decided that she needed to use the restroom, and disappeared off in search of the building.

Andrew turned his attention to Neil, who was glaring at a Douglas fir for no apparent reason.

“Did the tree say something about exy?” Andrew asked, walking up to Neil’s side. “Or do you just look like that all the time?”

Neil turned his grimace to Andrew, who had done nothing to deserve it, much like the tree.

“It’s cold, Andrew.”

“No shit, Josten. Do you like this one?” Andrew motioned to the tree that Neil had been making faces at.

Neil shrugged. “How do you know how to pick them?”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “You check to see if the needles are brown, and if the trunk is healthy,” he said, inspecting the tree. He found a bunch of dried parts and shook his head. “This one isn’t good. We can find a better one.”

“I want to be closer to Neil,” Andrew said softly. He stared into his lap and twisted his thumbs. He could hear Bee sit up straighter while her pen ran against her paper, before she finished and tapped it three times.

“Is there any reason why?” 

“I don’t know.”

Andrew chewed on the inside of his cheek and looked up at Bee. She was giving him a sympathetic look, which Andrew didn’t usually appreciate. She folded her hands together.

“Do you want to brainstorm ideas?”

“I don’t know.”

Bee thought for a moment longer, and then smiled again.

“Why don’t you wait for a moment? I trust that you’ll be able to figure out a good one.”

He turned on his heel and began to wander through the trees, trying to find one that looked like one that Nicky would have picked. At one point, Neil was dawdling in front of one tree that was still too brown for Andrew’s liking, and Andrew found his moment. He took a deep breath and reached for Neil’s hand.

Neil stood up as if ice water had been poured down his back. He looked down to their interlocked hands, then slowly looked to Andrew. 

“Yes or no?”

Neil nodded jerkily. “Yes.”

“Then let’s find a tree.”

Bee found them twenty minutes later and helped them carry the tree to the front. The workers at the gates helped them trim the trunk down to the house’s dimensions and tie it to the car.  
Andrew paid at the kiosk, Neil standing closer to him than they had started out.


End file.
